Bring the different parts of your wealth together, with a plan built around your life.

As wealth grows, financial decisions rarely become simpler.

Investments, pensions, property, business interests, tax considerations and family priorities can become closely connected, while each decision may affect the others.

Habitual Wealth provides private wealth management for individuals, families and business owners whose finances require a more personal and coordinated approach.

We take the time to understand what you have built, the life it needs to support and the people or causes you want it to benefit.

Our role is to create clarity: bringing your financial arrangements into one considered strategy, helping you understand the choices available and keeping the plan under review as your circumstances change.

The strongest private wealth strategies are built from the outside in.

We start with:

• the life you want
• the responsibilities you carry and
• the decisions ahead.

Only then do we consider the financial arrangements that may be suitable.

Our planning principle

Your investment portfolio is one part of the strategy. It should support the wider plan, not become the plan itself.

Investment decisions should be connected to what the money is for.

A portfolio intended to support spending in the next few years may need a different approach from wealth intended for later life or future generations.

We can help you consider:

• the purpose of each pool of capital;
• when you may need to access the money;
• your attitude to investment risk;
• your capacity to absorb losses without changing important plans;
• the balance between cash, pensions and investments;
• diversification across assets and investment managers;
• the use of available tax-efficient wrappers where suitable;
• income, growth and liquidity requirements; and
• how the strategy should be reviewed as markets and circumstances change.

We will explain the recommendations, charges and investment risks so you can make an informed decision. No investment outcome is guaranteed, and the value of investments can fall as well as rise.

Your strategy should develop as your life does

Private wealth management is an ongoing relationship.

Regular reviews allow us to compare the plan with your current position, discuss changes and consider whether your arrangements remain suitable.

A review may consider changes to your:

• family
• career
• business
• spending
• health
• tax position
• investment timeframe or attitude to risk,

It can also consider the progress made towards your objectives.

Turn accumulated wealth into a plan for living

For many private clients, the central question is not simply how much they have, but what that wealth can sustainably provide.

We can help you model different choices, such as:

• retiring earlier
• reducing work
• increasing spending
• helping family or
• retaining a larger legacy.

This can make the trade-offs more visible before irreversible decisions are made.

Retirement planning may include:

• bringing pensions and other assets into one view;
• estimating future spending and income needs;
• considering the timing and order of withdrawals;
• planning for changing expenditure through retirement;
• understanding the effect of inflation and investment returns;
• maintaining suitable cash reserves;
• planning for later-life care and family support; and
• reviewing the strategy regularly rather than relying on one fixed forecast.

A strong plan should prepare for disruption

Wealth can create resilience, but it does not remove financial risk.

The plan should consider what may happen if

• income stops
• a key person becomes ill
• a family member needs support or
• a business is disrupted.

Where appropriate, protection planning can help create liquidity and reduce the need to sell investments or other assets at an unsuitable time. Cover is subject to underwriting, policy terms and exclusions.

Pass on more than money

Intergenerational planning is not only about reducing a future tax bill. It is also about deciding when to help, how much to give, what responsibilities should accompany the wealth and how different family members should be treated.

We can help you explore:

• supporting children or grandchildren during your lifetime;
• balancing gifts with your own future income and security;
• funding education, property purchases or other family goals;
• using available exemptions and allowances where appropriate;
• the role of pensions, investments and protection in legacy planning;
• preparing beneficiaries for the responsibilities that wealth may bring;
• charitable giving and philanthropy; and
• working with solicitors and tax advisers on Wills, trusts and legal structures.

Wills, trusts and specialist tax advice are not provided by Habitual Wealth and are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Where these are required, we can work alongside your advisers or introduce appropriate specialists. Any introduction will be explained clearly.

Do not leave your personal future resting on one asset

For business owners, the company may represent:

• income
• identity
• capital and
• retirement planning at the same time.

A private wealth strategy can help you:

• build assets outside the business
• understand what a future exit may need to deliver and
• plan for life after ownership.

We can coordinate this work with your accountant, solicitor and corporate advisers. Business valuation, legal structuring, accountancy and transaction advice must be provided by appropriately qualified professionals.

Private clients may need to consider borrowing, cash management or other specialist financial services alongside their investment strategy.

Where appropriate, we can help identify the need and connect you with relevant specialists.

Banking, legal, tax and other referred services may be separate and distinct from the services offered by St. James's Place. Their terms, charges and regulatory status should be considered independently.

Private Wealth Management FAQs